Walking Shadows Read Free

need you to do this for me, Luv. Go OOB—" he stopped. "Can't really call it that anymore. You tend to stay in your body nowadays."  
    "I just call it going Wraith." I blinked. "You mean right now?"  
    "Well yeah—Manuel is already there."  
    "Manuel—" I uncrossed my arms. " My Manuel?"  
    He wasn't really mine. But ever since my ghastly heartbreak and subsequent almost killing of Rhonda Orly, Manuel had pretty much been as much a constant as Daniel. Manuel was the host Revenant to the First Born, Morgan. He was well mannered, seemed to be appreciative of everything, and was a little hottie. Fucker held one hell of a resemblance to Enrique Iglesias.  
    And though he looked like jailbait—kid had to have been bonded at like seventeen or eighteen—he was much older then me. He'd been born before World War II. And his First Born? We're talk'n ancient .  
    Mental Note: wait…when was the last time I had one of these notes?  
    Sidebar —I wondered exactly how old Morgan was. I learned that her previous host, Elizabeth, had been Jason's lover, and technically, Morgan and Mephistopheles were brother and sister…  
    Lalalalalala.  
    Either way—Manuel was a cutie, and I thought of his little boyish self as mine .  
    "He probably got to the club about a half hour ago. He's supposed to call if he sees anything."  
    "You're using Manuel as bait ?" I stood up. I was not a happy camper. "You asshole—you can't do that to him! What if that thing grabs him and takes his soul from Morgan?"  
    "That's why you need to get to the club as fast as you can."  
    I did not like the smile he had on his fucking ugly face. The son of a bitch just manipulated me into helping him—didn't even give me the opportunity to say no. He skipped right past the arguing part to "We're all gonna die!"  
    I really hated him sometimes.  
    I did something I hadn't done much since Rhonda's betrayal—I shifted to Wraith. My clothing melted into my skin as it turned the color of ash. The cloth became shadows that cloaked all the right parts in darkness as I felt my wings unfurl. My hair moved around my shoulders, and I looked down to see my taloned feet and clawed hands. Bunnies with attitude.  
    "Magnificent."  
    Yeah…only he would think I looked good like this. I thought I looked like a freak. I almost growled at him. "If anything happens to Manuel—"  
    "It won't. I trust you, Zoë. You'll stop it."  
    "Where am I going?"  
    He smiled. " The Getaway ."  

    •••

    This was a new club as far as I knew. But it'd been a long time since I'd visited Atlanta's nightlife. Last club I'd gone into was Opera and that was for a fight between Lex and Jason. That night hadn't ended well.  
    I couldn't Google the place—TC had to give me directions. It took about twenty minutes for me to find it and walk through the front past a line of Goth-wannabes. I was incorporeal, so I'm sure I gave whomever I passed through the shivers. And, luckily, their thoughts were benign enough that I didn't get any weird—
    No. Wait. That one was thinking about bending the bouncer over the bar and getting freaky.  
    Oh… kay .  
    Moving right along.  
    It wasn't a crowded bar—not on the inside. Apparently there was a number control for the bouncer outside to make sure the inside capacity didn't scream fire hazard. There didn't seem to be anything too crazy about the decor. Looked like any other basement club I'd been in or seen in a movie. Painted black walls, mist, waist-high bar around the dance floor, and mirror-covered areas that proved to me I wasn't really there.  
    You know, that's kind of weird looking in a mirror and not seeing yourself.  
    The bar was the pride and joy of the place, located in the very back and surrounded by lounge chairs and deep couches. Wouldn't get me on any of that furniture, not without shining one of those CSU lights on it to show bodily fluids.  
    Ew.  
    I spotted Manuel at the bar. He was dressed in a bomber